Nine people have died in a major fire that broke out in the Carlton Towers, a high-rise office complex in Bangalore, India. The deaths were caused either by choking in smoke or injuries when someone tried to jump from the seven story building, fire officials said.

Nine, six men and three women, died and around 50 injured in the incident.

The fire broke out on the fifth floor office of an IT firm around 4 p.m., trapping several hundreds in the Carlton Towers, an office building on the busy old Airport Road in Bangalore’s central business district.

Visuals caught on cell phones and televisions showed a woman trying to jump from the seventh floor to the sixth, slipping and falling to the ground. Another showed a man jumping to the ground from the top floor. It is feared they are among the nine dead.

A large number of people were trapped in the building. A user stuck in the building tweeted about the incident:

“Carlton Towers is on fire and six of us are trapped inside the building. The fire’s above but there’s smoke everywhere. Saw people jump to their death. Don’t call me folks. You can’t help. Will keep you posted.”

The blaze suspected to have been triggered by a short circuit, created panic with several inside the building for help and many others breaking the window panes.

Strong and whipped winds have pushed flames close to Brea High School and a large office park near the intersection of Wildcat Way and Lambert Road. This has led authorities to announce evacuations in Brea neighborhood.

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Intense fires have been burning at Little Tujunga Canyon. A fire carried by the season’s first major winds blasted out of the foothills of the northeastern San Fernando Valley today, blackening 750 acres and destroying one house before winds shifted and the fire’s advance was largely halted.

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Sacramento is facing one of the worst fires of the season. So much so that the unbearable heat it making it impossible for firefighters to fight with it and win.

The temperatures  are soaring past 100 degrees and raise the risk of new or expanded fires across much of California. Thats not good news.

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37 Iowans were injured when July fourth fireworks shell misfired and instead of hurtling vertically into the sky, went horizontally down the street and into a group of spectators.

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The Big Sur fire has already devoured 64,305 acres and still shows no signs of letting up, destroying three homes. The homes are venting their ire that the 12-day-old blaze hasn’t been contained.

State officials have ordered the evacuation of residents along 12 more miles on Highway 1 north. This new order has affected only 10 to 15 homes, but the underlying implicit message is that the fire is unstoppable.

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A fire that broke out in the San Bernardino National Forest, which is 70 miles east of LA, for all news worthy purposes has been christened as Ridge Fire. It broke out at 1.30 pm and has already burned at least 100 acres.

California is literally on fire this summer with more than 1700 fires. Fire fighters have their hands full and are doing a tremendous job battling trying to put the fires out.

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Updates: 1. Thanks to the comments for pointing out the image was not correct. We apologize about it and have updated the shots.

2. We have updated to include comprehensive Google maps below to show the affected areas.

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Mandatory evacuation orders have been issues for the residents in Glen Annie and La Patera Canyons by the fire and sherrif departments of Santa Barbara.

For the residents above Cathedral Oaks Road between Glenn Annie road and Fairview Anenue however its just an evacuation warning but the residents ought to be prepared to evacuate in case the sitation gets worse.

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Its the season of California burning. You can run but you can’t hide. If the fuel price does not burn a hole in your pocket, the raging fires might do! Last I checked, the national average gas price was $4 a gallon but in California it was hitting almost $4.50.  (No wonder why Toyota Priuses are selling like hot cakes and there is a huge waiting line in California but thats another story)

If you think situation was not already bad, hear this out – more than 400 fires were sparked by lightning and were burning across Northern California on Sunday as firefighters struggled against rough terrain. Kudos to these fire fighters for their ordeal and courage against this monstrous combination of fire that is turned on by wind, lightning, thunderstorm etc. Even the terrain was not on their side.

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Its the season of nature grilling the nature. And these fires are not showing any sign of lull or relief. One after another there is a new fire.

I had covered other equally damaging fires here and here.

A fast-growing wildfire roared across 2,000 acres east of Napa late Saturday, bringing a call for mandatory evacuations in the sparsely settled area along the Napa-Solano county line.

Earlier Saturday, fire crews were chasing hundreds of wildfires across Mendocino County and the rest of Northern California after a wave of lightning strikes ignited tinder-dry fuels in remote areas throughout the region.

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